Yesterday, the European Commission adopted the first Operational Programme 2014-2020 for the Czech Republic. The OP 'Enterprise and Innovations for Competitiveness'  will boost Czech innovation and competitiveness. The budget of the OP 'Enterprise and Innovations for Competitiveness' amounts to almost 8 billion EUR with 4.3 billion EUR coming from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The programme will foster knowledge-based economy, which will increase economic growth and productivity. It will encourage research activities in enterprises; it will also connect SMEs and enterprises with other research institutions. It is expected that the OP will create around 12,000 new jobs. It will also support approximately 2,000 enterprises through grants, while contributing to annual decrease in greenhouse gas emissions of 300,000 tons CO2. 

The biggest share of funding (2.7 billion EUR) will go to the research and innovation priority of the programme. Other investment priorities of the programme and their shares are depicted in the graph below. 

Source: Commissioner Corina Cretu, Press Release: The EU invests €4.3 billion of Regional Policy funds in the Czech Republic to boost innovation and competitiveness